Hype Around The Twin Cities For 11/11/11

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — It’s a date that comes around once every hundred years: 11/11/11. For most of us it’s just another day, but plenty of people see meaning in the date.

Natalie Narvaez always knew her 11th birthday would be special.

“Best of all, I got an IPod Touch,” said Narvaez

A golden birthday always brings about extra celebration, but for Natalie, the date adds extra meaning.

“It’s probably, it’s a one in a million birthday, 11/11/11,” said Narvaez.

Three 11s aligned on the calendar on what happens to be her 11th birthday.

“It feels like a really lucky day,” said Narvaez.

She’s among many who see significance in the numerical pattern. At a St. Paul gas station, Sean added new meaning to the term, “lucky numbers.”

“I think all those ones in a row, it just does something to you,” said Sean, who bought a power ball ticket at 11:11 a.m. Friday.

He was less focused on the actual Powerball numbers and more on the date and time.

“I waited for 11 seconds to tick off, so I got it on November 11th, at 11:00 and 11 seconds,” said Sean.

The superstition around 11/11/11 also played a role in wedding chapels across the country. Many couples hoped marrying on a certain date would bring some extra luck in life.

“Extra luck, I never even thought of that. I think we’ve been pretty lucky, so far,” said Jill Simerlein, who was married Friday.

Jill Simerlein and Robert Sawey also chose 11/11/11 to become husband and wife. For them, it wasn’t about the numbers, but because of the meaning.

“It’s Veterans Day. We wanted to make it a special day for us and our wedding,” said Sawey.

There’s an actual term used to describe the hype around 11/11/11. It’s called apophenia. It’s the tendency to find meaning or patterns in randomly occurring data. This condition feeds on itself, because the more conscious you are of something, the more you notice it.

Rachel Slavik joined the WCCO team in October of 2010 and is thrilled to be back in her hometown. Rachel spent three years in the sweltering heat of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She anchored, produced, and reported at WVLA. During her time in the Deep...